Goings on…
Monday, November 17th, 2008I started to lose heart a bit to be honest, which is a bad thing especially at the start of a project! However, my dad (in his garage lives this particular car) has been very supportive. He wasn’t much of a fan of my Vitesse and has told me so on many occasions (I love it of course!) His dislike to my Triumph was for several reasons.
Firstly, to him it is a modern car. He told me that he remembered the Herald being launched in 1959 and he didn’t like it then as he thought its styling to be ‘too modern’ for his tastes.
Secondly, he was less than impressed on the first and only time he drove it - especially as the passenger door kept flying open when he turned corners. (This was fixed with a NOS door catch about three years ago, but I found it to be quite endearing)
But the Austin it appears, is a different proposition altogether - in short, he likes it. This is good, especially as it appears it will be living in his garage for some considerable time yet…
I’ve also managed to get the boot open too. It was completely seized shut, and in the end I had to pry it open. The cause? Well the rubber seal had welded the boot and the rest of the car closed. Decomposing rubber can be a considerable foe. On the plus side, we’ve named the car - which is always a good sign it will be around for a while. We’ve called her Audrey.
A55 Boot - open at last!
Inside the boot I found more spares, including many bulbs and several speedo units. According to a note written on one of them, the original unit had become faulty and been swapped for another one. So the indicated 102,000 odd miles could be more, or less - who knows?
Fab boxed Stanpart bulbs will be finding their way into the Vitesse methinks...
Lots of lovely parts
Mintex fanbelt would be no good after all this time - but it looks great!
BL boxed bulbs would make great eBay fodder, but of course - i'll be keeping them...
Lots of period boxed bulbs
More alarmingly, I also found several old mice nests and bizarrely, a pressure cooker. There was also no inner wing on the nearside, and the offside one appears to be made of canvas - suspicious…
Holy wing, Batman...
Is it meant to be like that?
Pressure cooker in original box has also housed a family of rodents...
So what’s next? Well I’ve already started to make a list of what needs doing, I’ve sourced NOS master ands slave cylinders and managed to blow the electrics. Aren’t old cars fun?
